A national recycling scheme for TVs and computers has been announced
What do we do with our old televisions and computers? It's a question many of us have wondered about for a long time. In future, we'll ask it more frequently, as we all switch over to digital TV and our workplaces and households continue to upgrade PCs and laptops.
A recent report reveals that in 2007-08, Australians disposed of almost 17 million TVs, computers and computer peripherals (such as keyboards, scanners, printers, etc). This means that NSW residents could be responsible for as many as 7 million of those obsolete or unwanted pieces of electronic equipment.
The NSW Government has been actively working towards a solution to the e-waste problem for many years. Behind-the-scenes efforts of many people culminated in late 2009, when a national recycling scheme for TVs and computers was announced by Australian Environment Ministers.
A free drop off recycling service for televisions and computers, including peripherals such as printers and keyboards, will start in 2011. The national scheme has set an ambitious target, aiming for 80 per cent of all 'disposed of' TVs and computers to be collected for recycling by 2021. Currently, only about 10 per cent of such e-waste is recycled.
The TV and computer recycling scheme will be adopted as part of the new National Waste Policy, which sets out a comprehensive agenda for national, coordinated action on waste.
Only about 10 per cent of e-waste like computers and peripherals are currently recycled
The TV and computer recycling scheme requires manufacturers and importers of these products to have an accredited take-back system in place.
If Australia continued without any recycling scheme, 44 million TVs, computers and computer peripherals are projected to be discarded in 2028.
Visit the Environment Protection and Heritage Council website for more.